John 15:21

John 15:21 says. But all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me.  The disciples were going to be persecuted for the sake of Christ.  This was going to happen because those of the world did not know God.  When we as His followers are persecuted today, it is for the sake of Christ, that His message may be presented to the world, and that He might be glorified.  We must realize that we will always be at war with the world, not because we are trying to destroy them, but because they are trying to destroy our witness for Christ.  Those who do not know God will always try to destroy His message.  We really do not face the persecution that many Christians in other parts of the world do, but we should not be surprised when it happens.  Verse twenty-two adds, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.  That does not mean without Christ coming into the world that people were never guilty of sin, but that now He had come to fulfill the Law, so their disbelief in Him would leave them with no excuse.  There is no way to hide our sins from the light of Christ.  Verse twenty-three continues, Jesus said, He that hateth Me hateth My Father also.  We cannot claim to believe in God if we reject Jesus.  Again, Jesus said that there was no other way to salvation but by Him.  We can never claim as followers of Christ that there may be other ways to salvation.  Believing in any god is not enough.  When we proclaim this truth, the world hates us, because it hated Jesus.  Jesus was killed in the name of religion, so we shouldn't find it strange that Christians are killed today in the name of religion. We are no greater than our Lord.  If we are totally accepted or ignored by the world, something is wrong.  We have to also remember that even though the world hated Jesus, He loved them, and so must we.  Verse twenty-four concludes, If I had not done among them the works that none other man did, they had not sin: but now they hath both seen and hated both Me and My Father.  We cannot separate Jesus and the Father.  When we reject Jesus, we reject God.  Now that Jesus has paid the penalty for sin, if we reject Him, we are left accountable for our sins.  There is no other way to restoration with God than through Jesus.